Greg held up a hand. “I’m sorry, Candice. I didn’t mean it. I’m just . . . I’m overwhelmed and confused. I know you’re not witches. You’re all too good and generous and kind for that. But . . . I don’t know what you are, and you don’t even know what you are . . .”
“I think we’re people who just want to do some good in the world, and we’ve been given an unusual way to go about it.” She reached over and took his hand. “Yes, it’s different, but if you think about it, it’s also amazingly cool.”
He nodded. “It’s definitely something to think about.”
She stood. “Well, why don’t you take a little time out here in the quiet, and let me know if you have any questions, all right?” She knew it wouldn’t do any good to keep talking at this point—not until they’d each had a chance to mull things over.
She let herself back into the house and begin filling up coffee mugs for everyone. She’d delivered her message, and now she’d deliver coffee—making herself useful however she could. And trying to ignore the sick feeling in her stomach.
Chapter Four
Greg took a deep breath of rain-scented air and tried to unscramble his brain. So . . . the McClains all had some kind of weird power, and they had used that power to predict a massive threat to their town, and they were going to put everyone on alert, and he was supposed to help them by sending out a call on his radio, and this was supposed to make sense? His head hurt. Blood pounded behind his eyes, and his neck felt tight. This was too much to take in.
The sliding door to the porch opened, and Jeremy and Rebekah came out to join him. “Here you go,” Rebekah said, handing him two aspirin and a glass of water.
“Thanks. How did you . . .?” He looked up at her. “Your cosmic Spidey sense or whatever?”
She laughed. “Yeah. It works better if I’m touching you, but I can tell a lot just by looking at you too.”
He shook his head. “This is the craziest thing I’ve ever heard. How am I supposed to wrap my mind around it? And I’ve probably hurt Candice—my reaction wasn’t the best.”
Rebekah took the chair where Candice had been sitting just moments before. “She’ll be all right. We’ve gotten used to people screaming and running away when they see us. Metaphorically, of course. The people around here think we’re odd, but most don’t know the extent of it.”
“So, when did you find out about this?” Greg asked, turning to Jeremy. “And did you freak out?”
“The first day I met Rebekah, I saw her made snap decisions that ended up saving lives, and I knew I had to find out how she’d done it. She avoided me at first, but then I won her over with my charm and quick wit, and soon she was begging to spend the rest of her life with me.”
“Only half that story is true, and I’ll let you decide which half,” Rebekah said with a smirk.
“Thing is this, little brother.” Jeremy folded his arms and leaned on the back of Rebekah’s chair. “We might not understand what’s going on, but it’s real and it’s not changing, so we might as well get used to it. You have feelings for Candice, don’t you?”
Greg nodded. “I didn’t realize I did, but yeah, I do. A lot of things changed for us last night.” Wow. Just twelve hours ago . . . Many, many things had changed in that short amount of time.
“If you’re going to be in a relationship with someone, you accept everything about them. Maybe some things you only tolerate, to be honest, but being with someone means being with every part of them. You can’t pick and choose. If you’re going to be with Candice, you’ll just have to accept that she’s going to tell you to grab an umbrella from time to time.”
Greg smiled. “I might be able to live with that. After all, she said she’s ready to be in my corner while I finish my recovery.”
“See? You’ve each got something weird going on with you. You’re learning how to walk again, and she’s trying to save the world with sandbags.” Rebekah grinned. “Listen, Greg. I know that you don’t want to hurt each other. Candice didn’t mean to throw this at you—she was kind of forced into it by the situation. And you didn’t mean to respond hurtfully—you were thrown two massive curveballs at the same time. Work together on this. Talk it over. You’re stronger than this. And if the dating thing doesn’t work out, at least you’ll know that you gave it your best, and you’ve managed to stay friends because you respect each other.”
“I thought Candice said Heather was the matchmaker,” Greg said teasingly.
“She is. I just happen to be very, very smart.” Rebekah stood up. “We’ll leave you alone now—you looked like you were having a good think before we came out here. Keep thinking, okay? And then come back in and find my sister. She looks like a lost lamb in there.”
That imagery tugged at Greg’s heartstrings, and he nodded. “Okay. Thanks.”
Jeremy clapped his hand on Greg’s shoulder as he walked past him. “It’s worth the weirdness, little brother. Trust me.”
Greg chuckled at that as the sliding door closed, leaving him alone again. They’d given him a lot to think about, and he’d had a few realizations of his own, too. Would he be freaked out if Candice had a photographic memory or if she was one of those people who could do math in their heads? Or if she could hear a piece of music once and then sit down and play it perfectly? Those were all gifts too, but he was more ready to accept them than he was the other bizarre things he’d heard that morning. Why? Were they really all that different?
The truth was, being with Candice had awakened something in him that he’d thought was dead—his heart. And if he couldn’t learn to accept something unique and special about her, he didn’t deserve her anyway.
After another long moment of contemplation, he pushed out of his chair and stepped back into the house. Candice was at the counter, arranging toast on a tray, and he came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist, nuzzling her neck.
“Greg!” She giggled, but didn’t pull away. “Does this mean you forgive me?”
“What? Why would I need to forgive you?”
She turned in the circle of his arms. “I thought you were mad at me.”
“I wasn’t mad. I was just very, very confused. I’m sorry for snapping at you, and I promise, from now on, I’ll ask questions first and react later. No more flipping out.”
She smiled. “I like that idea. And for my part, I’ll try not to hide anymore supernatural powers from you.”
“I think that’s a fair compromise.” He bent to kiss her, feeling the rush of heat and chemistry flow between them again. He would be an idiot to throw all this way just because he didn’t understand it.
“Are we good, then?” she asked, looking up into his eyes.
“We are. But I need my chair.” He wouldn’t have traded that kiss in for anything, but his legs were about to collapse under him.
She stepped aside so he could grab the counter, and Rebekah came up with his chair just then. “See? My creepiness comes in handy,” she told him with a wink.
He lowered himself into it and gave a shaky smile. “It really does. Thanks.”
***
After everyone had a little bit to eat, they went on their way, each to start their assignments. Candice and Marti stayed at Tracy’s house to talk about their next step—telling their parents.
“So, this is going to be fun,” Marti said. “Mom already knows about our powers, but Dad doesn’t, and we get to tell them about the flood at the same time. It’ll be like Greg all over again.”
“With one very important distinction. Mom and Dad love Candice, but they aren’t in love with her,” Tracy said.
“Greg’s not in love with me. We only started dating last night—it’s too soon for stuff like that,” Candice protested.
Tracy just gave her a look. “We don’t really have time to waste with that silliness. He loves you, you love him, I don’t have to be Heather to know it, and we have work to do. So, the two of you are heading back to the house to tell them, right? I’ll call Heath
er and fill her in so she’s not left out in the cold, and then I’ll go check out those emergency vehicles. That was a brilliant idea, by the way. I’m quite impressed.”
“That’s my goal—being as impressive as possible.” Candice straightened her shoulders. “How do you think Dad’s going to take it?”
Marti raised an eyebrow. “He’s a McClain. It’s his fault we’re this way. He has no choice but to take it really, really well.”
“I guess you’re right, but I don’t want to give him a stroke or anything.”
Tracy shook her head. “Marti’s right. He’s a McClain, and that means he’s surrendered all rights to anything normal happening to him in his entire life. And we have to be ready for it too—our kids might pop up with weird gifts someday. Just part of our heritage.”
Candice stood up. “Well, let’s go get this over with.”
Marti stood up too. “I’ll be right there for you the whole time.”
“What?” Candice’s jaw dropped. “You’re going to make me do the talking? I had to tell everyone about the flood. Why are you making me do all the hard stuff?”
“Because you’re smart and brilliant and eloquent and I don’t want to,” Marti replied, grabbing her umbrella from the corner. “Let’s go get this over with.”
Chapter Five
Bob McClain took the news that his daughters were now supernatural mutants rather well. He just sat there and blinked, and when Candice was finished, he said, “That’s incredible. Do you mean to say that by triangulating my new devices, we created some kind of force field that activated your latent powers, causing them to become active? How can we replicate that?”
“I don’t think we want to replicate it, Bob,” Barbara said. “Who knows what could happen.”
“Yes, yes, of course, but still . . .” He stopped talking, but Candice knew his brain was going a million miles an hour, exploring all the possibilities.
“There’s something else, Dad,” she said, interrupting what was either the formulation of a new video game or a new invention—she never was sure.
This time, as she told her parents about the impending disaster, her father reacted immediately. “We’ve got to warn people,” he said. “We need to make phone calls, to—”
Candice held up a hand. “We’ve already got a plan outlined, and we’ve made a list of assignments. What we’d like you to do is go out to the ranch and coordinate with Jonathan. Peter knows what’s going on and he’s talking to his dad right now, but we think you three could come up with some ways to incorporate the resources of the ranch. Maybe making food for the volunteers in that huge kitchen, getting the boys to help fill sandbags, that sort of thing.”
Bob nodded. “Good thinking. Now that Peter and Lillian are married, your Aunt Meredith won’t be cooking for that crowd all alone, and we’ll do whatever we can to help out too.”
“We’re proud of you girls for pulling this all together,” Barbara told them. “I think your gifts are exactly that—gifts to bless the lives of others.”
“So, Dad,” Marti said, leaning forward a little. “You didn’t seem too overly shocked when Candice told you just now.”
“I’ve always known my daughters were a little odd. Now I know why,” he said with a chuckle. “Come on, dear. Let’s head out to the ranch and see how we can help.”
***
“So you see, Pastor, it’s very important that we meet as a community and discuss what the engineer had to say,” Candice finished, hoping that her argument sounded convincing. “With the kind of rain we’ve been having, we should be prepared in case the dam does break.”
Pastor Knowles looked thoughtful as he leaned back in his desk chair. “I can see the reason for your concern, most certainly. I hesitate to create alarm, however—do we know we’re in immediate danger? Has the government issued any warnings? The weather bureau?”
“No, but they aren’t likely to say anything until the danger is actually upon us. I want to encourage the community to prepare now so we actually have things in place if there is an emergency.”
“I’ve always been a big believer in preparedness. We never know when the unexpected might strike.” He studied her a moment longer. “All right, you may use the church for this meeting.”
“Thank you, Pastor.” Candice felt a rush of relief. Step one, complete. Now she just had to convince everyone in town to come, and then convince them all to listen, and then convince them all to take action. Easy peasy, right?
She shook the pastor’s hand, then exited the church to drive over to the strip mall. If she hurried, she’d be on time.
But on time for what?
To sell overpriced T-shirts to whiny teenagers?
She pulled over and stared at the rain hitting the sidewalk. It was Saturday. The flood would hit Tuesday. She didn’t have time to hang up clothes and arrange bracelets and straighten pairs of shoes. She didn’t want to do all that stuff anyway even if they weren’t facing down a natural disaster. She simply didn’t care, she didn’t understand why other people cared, and there had to be a better job for her than this somewhere in the world, not limiting herself to Bagley.
Feeling proud of herself in particular and annoyed at the fashion industry in general, she pulled back onto the road, continued her drive in to work, and quit. It felt pretty darned fantastic. Then she drove over to Jeremy’s apartment to see how Greg was getting along setting up the new ham radio . . . and maybe just to see Greg, because it had been a couple of hours and she felt like it.
When she rapped on the door, she heard him call out, “Come in!” She found him in the apartment’s second bedroom, his head bent over the radio as he flipped switches back and forth.
“Hey there,” he said, glancing over his shoulder. “Just about set up here.”
“Great.” She sat down on the edge of the bed and watched him. She’d never operated a ham radio and had no idea how they worked, but she knew they were a fantastic way to communicate in case of an emergency, and she was so grateful he was a licensed operator. That would take their efforts to a whole new level of effectiveness.
He sat back and swiveled in the desk chair to face her. “How did it go?”
“With my parents, or at the church?”
“Either. Both.”
“Pretty well. My dad’s trying to figure out how the Zap happened so he can re-create it and probably burn the house down, my mother’s trying to talk him out of that, and we can use the church building tonight as long as we don’t advertise the meeting as a religious event.”
“Good job.” He grabbed a piece of paper and a pencil from the desk and handed them over. “Write down the details of the meeting and I’ll radio them out.”
She did, then watched as he flipped a switch and spoke into the microphone. Some of what he said must have been ham radio slang because she didn’t catch all of it, but she didn’t claim to know anything about it anyway.
“Done,” he said, turning back around. “Now, have you had lunch?”
“Lunch?” For some reason, she had to think about it, even though it was a very simple question. “Um, no, I haven’t.”
“Well, let’s take care of that right now. Jeremy told me to help myself to whatever was in the kitchen, and I happen to make fantastic French toast.”
“Do you? Well, I happen to make fantastic omelets.” She stood up. “Are you wheeling or walking?”
“Wheeling for now. Overdid it a little bit this morning.”
“I’m sorry.” She sat back down again so she was at his eye level. “I keep thinking about everything that happened this morning, and I wish I’d handled it better.”
He took her hand and stroked the back of it with his thumb. “I don’t know how you could have handled it better, and you can’t beat yourself up about it. You were given a huge burden to carry, and I’m proud of you.”
“You are?”
“I am.” He leaned forward and slid his hand behind her neck, gently pulling her in for a kiss.
“Now, let’s get you fed. I don’t want to see you passing out in the middle of your meeting.”
“And I don’t want to be passing out.”
When Candice first opened Jeremy’s fridge, she was a little worried that she wouldn’t be able to find everything she wanted. But after she rearranged the Chinese food containers and the cans of Tab, she spotted some mushrooms and green peppers, and those would get her off to a good start.
It was fun to work side by side with Greg. He remained seated while he prepared his ingredients, then came to his feet to do the actual cooking. She could tell that he was tired, but he did seem more stable, and she took that as a good sign.
“When do you meet with the physical therapist here?” she asked as she poured her egg and veggie mixture into the skillet.
“Monday morning. Then I have another appointment Wednesday, but I somehow think that’s going to be postponed.” He chuckled, then shook his head. “I still can’t believe this is happening. Not just the flood, but that we have a chance to help prepare people for it.”
“If they’ll listen.” Candice sighed and leaned against the counter, spatula in hand. “That’s my biggest worry right now. What if they don’t listen, and then they’re running around in a blind panic when the water actually hits? That’s when things get really dangerous—during the panic.”
Greg reached out and took her other hand. “You’re giving them a much better chance than they’d have otherwise. That counts for a whole lot, don’t you think?”
She nodded. “I’d just like to be able to save the whole world, you know? Why couldn’t my gift have been the ability to teleport entire towns a hundred miles away? Now that would be useful.”
“Hey, wait. Are you saying your gift isn’t useful? Where did that come from?”
“Oh, just a silly thought that’s been circulating through my head since we discovered our gifts. I have this conversation with myself about twice a day. That’s an improvement, though—it used to be six or eight times a day. Maybe eventually I’ll get down to once a week or so.”
Candice (Seven Sisters Book 6) Page 4
